There’s no hyperbole in saying it’s been a big week for Kobbie Mainoo. On Thursday, Manchester United announced the Carrington graduate had just signed a new contract keeping the midfielder at Old Trafford until 2031. Three days later, Mainoo scored the winner against Liverpool, in front of the Stretford End, to seal qualification for next season’s Champions League.
It was only five months ago that Champions League football looked highly improbable, with Mainoo himself only having played 220 Premier
League minutes. It’s been quite the turnaround for both player and club since former midfielder Michael Carrick was appointed Manchester United’s head coach.
This summer Manchester United are going to embark on the difficult but necessary task of completely overhauling their midfield. Casemiro is set to depart the club, and Manuel Ugarte might follow him out, with the club looking to sign (hopefully) three new midfielders but almost certainly at least two. It’s a very big puzzle that United need to get right if they want to compete on multiple fronts next season – or really even a single front.
Right in the middle of that puzzle has always been Kobbie Mainoo.
There has been plenty of debate as to whether Mainoo should be the centerpiece that United build their midfield around, or if he’s merely a piece of the puzzle. Regardless of the outcome of that debate, there has been further debate as to which midfield role best suits Mainoo.
Mainoo does not score a lot of goals, but he has a knack for scoring big ones. His first Premier League goal was an injury-time winner against Wolves – right after United had just let a two-goal lead slip. His next was an equalizer in front of the Stretford End against Liverpool. A few months later he scored what would turn out to be the game-winning goal in the FA Cup final. Last season he scored a 120th-minute equalizer against Lyon in the Europa League quarterfinals.
Combine his knack for scoring big goals with his ability to control the ball in tight spaces and it’s lead to many fans wanting him playing near the box in a more attacking role. This is something former manager Ruben Amorim seemed to agree with. Last season Amorim started Mainoo up top against Crystal Palace, hoping to utilize those ball skills in a false-9 role. This season Amorim said Mainoo was competing with Bruno Fernandes for the no. 8 role in United’s midfield.
I’ve never agreed with that sentiment. Since Mainoo’s debut his traits have consistently reminded me of one player. Nemanja Matic, albeit without the size. He possesses a calmness on the ball that Matic had and ball-carrying ability. His passing skews more towards safe ball retention rather than progressive passing, but like Matic he has a good ability of being able to get the ball to United’s more dangerous who can do more damage with it. Mainoo’s ability to receive passes on the half turn and be good under pressure translates very well to a deep-lying midfielder tasked with taking the ball from the center backs and moving it up the pitch to United’s better players.
Among the United fanbase there is a strong hesitancy to put Mainoo in this role due to his ability out of possession. Mainoo doesn’t make a lot of tackles. He doesn’t get a lot of interceptions. He’s not a midfield destroyer or a ball winner – traits many people consider to be necessary for your number 6.
That’s just not true, though.
Roy Keane may have loved a hard tackle, but Michael Carrick and Matic didn’t make many of them. They didn’t get a lot of interceptions and weren’t particularly mobile either. Yet they were both exceptional holding midfielders for United. They used their positioning and ability to read the game to delay attacks from their opponents, allowing their teammates to get back in line and make things difficult for their opponent. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and there’s more than one way to play defensive midfield.
The narrative around Mainoo has always been that he’s weak out of possession. Ruben Amorim threw gasoline on the fire as he would often speak publicly about Mainoo’s inability to cover ground or other defensive shortcomings but that narrative existed before Amorim arrived.
Frankly, I’ve never understood it.
Mainoo made his debut playing as the more defensive part of the pair next to Scott McTominay at a hostile Goodison Park. United did not have the majority of the ball but Mainoo was terrific. About two weeks later he was terrific in a 0-0 draw at Anfield where United had 31 percent possession. Mainoo’s best games that season were against Liverpool in both the league and FA Cup, plus the FA Cup final against Manchester City. This season his best games have come against City, Chelsea, Liverpool. All the games where United typically have less of the ball and spend more of their time playing out of possession!
United’s resurgence under Carrick has coincided with United finally getting a proper defensive midfielder back on the pitch. That player is Kobbie Manioo.
Since coming into the team in January, Mainoo has typically played as the deepest midfielder, allowing Casemiro more freedom to push up in possession and attempt more tackles out of possession. The latter has been crucial for United. Casemiro doesn’t win every tackle – he never has – but having someone covering behind him means that a missed tackle doesn’t automatically turn into a scoring chance. That means Casemiro can be more aggressive and try to make more tackles, leading to performances like the one he had last Monday night against Brentford.
With Mainoo in the starting XI United’s expected goals against has dropped by over a third of a goal from 1.32 to 0.96 compared to when he’s not on the pitch. Look no further than the match against Leeds where Casemiro was partnered with the “more defensive” Manuel Ugarte, yet Leeds cut through United’s two “defensive” midfielders like a knife through warm butter.
Over the past eight days Mainoo has showcased exactly where he fits in United’s midfield, and given the club a clear picture of what kind of players they should be targeting this summer. As I suspected all along, we’re watching a deep midfield superstar bud before our eyes.
Monday night, Mainoo got fans out of their seats just a minute into the match with a dazzling run to set up a chance for Amad. It comes from all the traits that make him more suited to playing deeper. He starts by finding space to present himself for a pass from Bruno.
Most United players will typically play the way they’re facing. Bruno himself hates catching a pass and turning, which is why he makes so many of those backheel flicks that can drive you mad. But Mainoo turns before the ball even gets to him, catching the pass on the half turn so he can look up the pitch.
From there his IQ takes over. Mainoo excels at taking what the defense gives to him. If the pass is there, he makes it. If it’s not, he doesn’t force it. He has no problem holding onto the ball longer if he has to. In this case, there’s open field in front of him so he runs with it, and ends up creating a great chance for Amad.
While I always thought the narrative that Mainoo was poor out of possession was overblown, that doesn’t mean I thought he was incredible in that regard. He’s had his weaknesses there but the last few matches he’s shown how much he’s grown in this area.
With United leading 1-0 but having their backs against the wall against Brentford, it was a Kobbie Mainoo slide tackle (in open space) that launched the counterattack that resulted in Benjamin Sesko’s goal.
On Sunday he was back at it. With United playing their more passive 4-4-2 against Liverpool Mainoo was right in the middle things, constantly making it difficult for Liverpool to work the ball into the middle of the field.
And once again the sequence that ended in Benjamin Sesko’s goal started with Mainoo making a defensive play and quickly finding players who could advance the ball up the pitch.
But nowhere did he showcase why he should be playing in a deeper role more than on the game-winning goal.
The sequence starts with Mainoo receiving the ball deep and carrying it forward, helping United establish themselves just on the edge of the final third.
United try to attack down the left to no avail, leading Patrick Dorgu to work it back to Mainoo in the middle of the pitch, with all 11 Liverpool players in front of him.
Mainoo is United’s deepest midfielder here. He’s in line with the two fullbacks and only has Ayden Heaven and Harry Maguire behind him. With 11 defenders in front of him, Mainoo doesn’t panic. He doesn’t try to force something that isn’t there. He takes his time, knowing that his job is simply to get the ball to someone who can be dangerous with it.
He does this when he slips a pass into Matheus Cunha. It’s a short pass but it’s not an easy one, and the way Mainoo passes the ball allows Cunha to easily control it and move it away from the defenders.
From there, Cunha gets himself in a position where he can play in Luke Shaw on the outside.
When Cunha does that, all the Liverpool defenders have to collapse down low. Nine Liverpool players fall into their own box. The only one not in the box is right on the edge of it. That gives Mainoo the freedom to push forward and get himself on the edge of the box.
This is exactly where United want Kobbie Mainoo. It’s exactly where his attacking skillset is best utilized. When the ball comes out to the top of the box, Mainoo doesn’t hesitate.
The side-footed finish from Mainoo had me immediately doing flashbacks to when United’s current manager was patrolling the midfield. Carrick himself would pop up with some excellent side footed strikes from the top of the box such as his goal in his debut campaign against Roma or his crucial goal against Wigan in the 2009 title race.
Mainoo has very useful skills around the box, but that was only his fourth career Premier League goal. He only has three Premier League assists. Those numbers are simply not enough to signal that he’d be an effective attacking midfielder.
However, playing him deeper doesn’t mean that he’s never going to go near the box either. Roy Keane only scored 33 league goals in 13 seasons. Michael Carrick had 16 in 12 seasons. Both of them scored some very big goals, but that didn’t mean there were clamors to move them further forward.
Take a look at Mainoo’s player radar from this season compared to his debut season.
This shows a player who has made improvements defensively. He’s also added a lot of value on the ball but this is not the radar of a player who is a particularly dangerous attacking midfielder. It’s a player who is very effective in the middle of the pitch. Someone who provides a lot of value to his team defensively and can effectively move the ball to his teammates.
Mainoo’s pass map from Sunday shows the same picture.
There’s a lot of passes in the middle the park. There’s a lot of safe passes. But crucially he’s also able to slip passes into the dangerous players – he completed 11 passes to Bruno and Matheus Cunha.
Mainoo still lacks the progressive passing that United would really benefit from if he developed it. But at least they now know what they have. They’ve found a player who can sit in midfield and screen their defense. Now they need to surround him with a runner and a ball player – or preferably two players that can do both.
Mainoo can take the ball from the center backs, he can play out of pressure, and he can get the ball to those other midfielders who can do the more adventurous things. Mainoo’s size and physicality are the obvious concerns for playing in this position but this can easily be accommodated for, especially on set pieces. You just have to make sure the midfielders you sign have the size to cover for him.
Sunday was a great day for Manchester United. They did the double over Liverpool. They secured a return to the Champions League. Perhaps most importantly, Kobbie Mainoo is narrowing down exactly where he fits in United’s midfield, making the upcoming summer’s puzzle that much clearer.
